Global Grinnell Blog

Dr. Anita Rojas, Chilean Mathematician, hosted by Jennifer Paulhus, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, came for the spring semester, 2015 as the John R. Heath Professor.

Endowed in honor of John Reardon Heath, Grinnell Class of 1919, who was an active member and President of the Grinnell Board of Trustees and gave steadfast support to Grinnell’s long and continuing engagement with the world, the Heath Professorship brings to Grinnell College the most distinguished international figures for a semester-length stay.

Thanks to a new program at Grinnell College, Alumni in the Classroom, offered to connect students with alumni, David Cook-Martín department of sociology chair and director of the Center for International Studies, brought Chuck Adkins-Blanch '84 to campus for a lunch and lecture with students.

Each year the Center for International Studies oversees the Heath Professorship, which brings to Grinnell College the most distinguished international figures for a semester-length stay. For the fall 2015 semester, the physics department hosted Professor Manuel Gadella of the University of Valladolid, Spain. Prof. Gadella taught two special topics courses that are not currently covered in the physics department curriculum.

As many of you are aware, it can be challenging to keep the "News" block of the department landing pages (Group Info pages, technically speaking) up-to-date. If the department doesn't sponsor lots of events or have lots of announcements, the news in that area can get pretty outdated - sometimes even by years.

The run-up to the Iowa caucuses is when all the presidential candidates remind us how cool they think Iowa is. (At least they say Iowa is cool, but we can’t be sure that the latter signifies the former.) Bernie Sanders said so four or five times on Thursday at a rally in Central Park in Grinnell. To justify the title of this essay, let me note that he also commented on the heat (it was 90 F) in the context of advocating for universal health care, suspecting that some of his audience were going to suffer heat strokes.

I'm very excited to announce that we can now create blogs on the website! These blogs aren't for individuals necessarily, but rather those who wish to blog under the institutional umbrella. For instance, the Center for Prairie Studies has a Director's Corner and the Faulconer Gallery has a Director's Blog called "Art Worlds Every Day," both of which were on the retro site and can now be supported on the new site.

An earlier T-shirt’s answer to that question -- “Who the Hell Cares?” -– not only belittled the College’s location but offended many people in the community. Martha Orlet ’15 and Aaron Juarez ’15 wanted to create an alternative shirt with a better answer. Martha and Aaron, board members of the Center for Prairie Studies, proposed the idea to the full board. Several conversations and artistic designs later, we are pleased to offer an alternative “Where the Hell is Grinnell?” T-shirt.

An earlier T-shirt’s answer to that question -- “Who the Hell Cares?” -– not only belittled the College’s location but offended many people in the community. Martha Orlet ’15 and Aaron Juarez ’15 wanted to create an alternative shirt with a better answer. Martha and Aaron, board members of the Center for Prairie Studies, proposed the idea to the full board. Several conversations and artistic designs later, we are pleased to offer an alternative “Where the Hell is Grinnell?” T-shirt.

A distressing column about dramatic reductions in the population of monarch butterflies ran on the front page of the Des Moines Register recently (August 29, 2014). Among other things, the story reported a steady decline over the last two decades in the number of monarchs observed in one of the principal sites in Michoacán to which monarchs from the United States migrate for the winter. In 1996, the overwintering butterflies covered 45 acres in this location, whereas last year they covered only 1.7 acres.